12 books you need to read before 2015 is over

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12 books you need to read before 2015 is over

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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: The Past by Tessa Hadley

If you start salivating at the combination of “estranged siblings/crumbling family home in the country,” you’re in for a treat with this novel of generational drama and sibling strife told in vivid prose. A taste? Some of the children stumble upon a rather nasty secret in a tumbledown cottage in an idyllic glade. READ MORE: TIFF by the numbers

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving

Juan Diego’s life begins on the edge of a Mexican rubbish dump and ends with him living the “Iowan dream.” What happens in between is a page-turning meditation on destiny, luck and love. READ MORE: 3 great reads for Labour Day weekend

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

This is a tale of star-crossed love (different tribes and, oh, they’re both girls) birthed in the chaos of the Nigerian civil war told by one of fiction’s most-talked-about new voices. The prose is tear-jerkingly vivid: Think descriptions of skin “like the aroma of fresh coco­nut oil” and lips “pursed out thickly like two millipedes.” READ MORE: 15 coolest Canadians to know now

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: Purity by Jonathan Franzen

Purity “Pip” Tyler (the allusion to Great Expectations is no accident) is on a journey to the darker edges of the virtual world, beginning with an internship at a South American Internet think tank. READ MORE: 10 movies we can't wait to see this fall

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: Slade House by David Mitchell

This addictive thriller will make you hesitate the next time an acquaintance invites you over. Haunted houses have nothing on this warped alleyway that every nine years becomes the site of a mysterious dis­appearance—a child, a cop, a journalist, a doctor. Pass if you have a particular fear of creepy Victorian twins. READ MORE: 4 sizzling beach reads

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart

Constance Kopp is basically the Erin Brockovich of 1914: an unconventional broad who takes on powerful men (in her case, the owners of the local silk factory who think they’re above the law) and won’t back down. This caper is based on the rue story of one of the first female deputy sheriffs. READ MORE: 4 delicious cocktails you need to try now

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg

This epic debut novel is set in 1970s New York. It begins with a shooting in Central Park and ends with the 1977 blackout. It’s a cine­matic, sprawling story of life in society’s underbelly. READ MORE: How to have the best long weekend ever

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By: Sarah Laing
Source: Handout

12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: Sleep by Nino Ricci

A guy who has it all suddenly finds himself falling asleep at all the wrong times—at work, on the road, never beside his glamorous wife—and totally unable to catch a few winks at the right times. Things rapidly descend past crankiness and into a hell of sleeplessness, desperation...and Kalashnikovs. Not for insomniacs. READ MORE: 12 best cookies in Toronto

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg

When The Social Network star published his first short story in The New Yorker, it was met with a whole lot of “Huh. Not bad for an actor.” Now he’s back with a collection of bite-size quirky, funny and occasionally a little uncomfortable chunks of observation and social satire. READ MORE: Canadian boss ladies you need to know

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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie

A magical creature called a “jinn” got frisky with a mortal. They had many descendants, who, unaware of their powers, wake up one day to realize they can do things like levitate. Unfortunately, this also triggers a cataclysmic clash between dark and light. READ MORE: Top 10 Canadian Youtubers to know

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley

This is a real-life Orange Is the New Black, only with more journal entries and fewer female inmates. (Make that none, since it’s ac­tually about real-life book clubs in men’s prisons.) If you’ve ever wondered what violent criminals might think about The Grapes of Wrath, read on...and get ready to be incredibly moved. READ MORE: The ultimate Caesar recipe

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By: Sarah Laing
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12 books you need to read this fall

Fall 2015 must read: The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

The grande dame of CanLit is back with another dystopian tale, this time about an upside-down world where the good guys are imprisoned and the bad ones go free. (And, no, it’s not non-fiction.) READ MORE: 3 great Canadian reads